Fantastic Universe: A Forces of Dorkness Art Show

From
the artist, Forces of Dorkness, comes a universe of strange characters
brought to life in this brand new collection of paintings. Fantastic
Universe combines the sights and sounds of one guy’s idea of what it is
to be a creature in deep space. That's right, sights AND sounds! The
artist will also perform a soundtrack created just for these works, on
opening night.

“These are the beings I think I would find if I were to jump in a rocket and explore space itself, not just other planets.”

The opening reception will be on Friday, October 14th from 7 to 10pm and the artwork will remain up through November 1st. Artwork will be available for purchase. Admission is free and all ages are welcome.

Oct 14, 2016

Just in time for Halloween, Greg "Craola" Simkins & C4Toons is going to have the first public screening of I'm Scared: The Movie! at 3D Retro. On October 15th, 3D Retro will also play host for the official release of the Midnight colorway for the Stair Monsta figure, a figure initially created as part of the Kickstarter campaign that helped fund the creation of I'm Scared: The Movie!. This black version of the Stair Monsta figure complements the Halloween theme, while the character played a part in the movie. In addition to the movie being premiered and the figure release, Craola is going to be raffling off an original painting, as well as releasing a limited edition print. Raffle tickets are only available at the event and the winner must be present, since they have to take it home after the event is over. The print release will be a 7"x10" Giclee on canvas titled "Join Me". Priced at $80, each print is signed and numbered, with an edition size of 31. This is looking like it's going to be a fantastic event with Craola and Kevin Pasko on hand for the signing of the "Stair Monsta" figure. For those in the area, be sure to head on down to 3D Retro and show some support, while also taking in a fun movie.

Emma SanCartier, the artist behind OddFAUNA, is going to be releasing NYCC 2016 leftovers sometime on Monday, October 17th, through the OddFAUNA online store. The one of a kind Logur pictured above is just one of the goodies that will be looking for a forever home on monday, so be sure to follow OddFAUNA on social media to stay up to date with a release time.

October is the month of monsters and creatures and 3D Retro is running with the theme by hosting several events in the month of October to celebrate short films, vinyl toys and Halloween. One of the events being held at 3D Retro is the US release of a figure designed by Nathan Hamill and Touma called Kaiju Frankenstein. Initially released and debuted at the Taipei Toy Festival, Kaiju Frankenstein(misnomer ignored) is a 5" vinyl figure that appears to be half kaiju and half Frankenstein's monster. Packaged in a window box, this OG colorway is limited to just 125 pieces and is priced at $55 each. 3D Retro will be hosting the release event on October 22nd from 6pm-11pm at their Glendale store. Nathan Hamill is expected to be on hand at the event for signings and Touma is expected to make the trip over from Japan as well. It's likely that more colorways will follow this release but no official word has been announced as of yet.

Available now for pre-order through Pobber Toys is a Skullhead Samurai 9" figure produced by Pobber and designed by Huck Gee and Jon-Paul Kaiser, . This figure has been in the making for some time now and after a successful initial release at STGCC 2016, collectors around the world can place an order for one or more of these bad boys. Priced at $100 plus shipping, each figure features 5 points of articulation and a removable katana. This looks to be another nice figure for future customizing, given it's nice size. These figures are planned to ship during the fourth quarter of 2016. Go check out the Pobber Toys online store for these figures, as well as a bunch of other cool figures by many different artists.

After completing his 13-piece Beats Series that traced a genealogy of sampler technology, he now turns his attention to a synthesizer. Best known for it's sub kick drum that has been heard and felt on countless tracks since 1980, the 808 inspired figure will surely appeal to pro audio enthusiasts and beat producers alike.

Available for a short time until October 22nd, 2016. The limited edition figure is priced at $125, each piece is individually numbered, and ordered pieces are expected to ship Mid-November. Visit his webshop for details.

Pin Game Strong is hitting everyone, everywhere. Artists are creating pins and spreading the love. Joe Ledbetter created a nice collection of several Chaos Bunnies pins for purveyors to collect. Priced at only $12 a piece, or $55 for the set, these pins are ready to purchase and ship immediately. Be sure to check out Joe Ledbetter's store to up your Pin Game and maybe pick up some magnets, prints or toys.

After a successful initial drop at the Tenacious Toys booth during NYCC 2016, Brick Baby by Jason Freeny and Mighty Jaxx will make it's worldwide debut on October 15th. Measuring in at 8" tall, on it's base, and weighing a hefty 2.3 kg, this Jason Freeny creation will be a great addition to any collection. Brick Baby was priced at $120 during NYCC and should be priced similarly during the release through Mighty Jaxx. These will go up for sale at 10AM EST through the Mighty Jaxx store for those who want to pick one or a few up.

Jon-Paul Kaiser wasted no time customizing one of Kidrobot's Labbit the Barbarian figure. As a fan of Frank Frazetta's art, as well as the movie Conan The Barbarian, Jon-Paul saw the original figure and immediately decided that he had to leave his mark on this wonderful base. Jon-Paul was able to complete this custom in time for the event Northern Craft in Leeds on October 15th. For those in the UK, be sure to head on down to the Northern Monk Brewery, where the Northern Craft Fair will be featuring 30+ stalls of the finest art and crafts from around the world, which includes Jon-Paul Kaiser. This should be a great event, can't really go wrong with beer, food and art.

Brooklyn based company Hashtag Collectibles has a great offer going on right now for anyone interested in purchasing one of the recent plush releases called Texts from Hillary. Every purchase of the 11" plush Texts from Hillary doll will now come with a free Bernie plush for that extra support. Priced at $16.99 plus shipping, this doll is great for anyone wants to give their kids a plush of someone who could be the next POTUS. Who's to say what this doll could be used for, but getting an extra plush doll with every purchase is never a bad thing. Be sure to check out all of the other interesting plush dolls available, everything from a stuffed Blobfish to a stuffed water bear. Every plush is said to be made in limited quantity, so grab that gift for the holiday season before it's too late.

On Friday October 14th, artist Scott Kinnebrew, aka Forces of Dorkness, will open the art show titled Fantastic Universe at the Guzu Gallery in Austin, TX. Running until November 1st, the opening reception will take place from 7-10pm on Friday Oct. 14th. For anyone in the Austin area, be sure to head on down to Guzu Gallery for some fantastically strange art, as well as a soundtrack created by Scott, just for the show. Here's more info regarding the show:

Guzu Gallery PresentsFantastic Universe: A Forces of Dorkness Art Show

From
the artist, Forces of Dorkness, comes a universe of strange characters
brought to life in this brand new collection of paintings. Fantastic
Universe combines the sights and sounds of one guy’s idea of what it is
to be a creature in deep space. That's right, sights AND sounds! The
artist will also perform a soundtrack created just for these works, on
opening night.

“These are the beings I think I would find if I were to jump in a rocket and explore space itself, not just other planets.”

The opening reception will be on Friday, October 14th from 7 to 10pm and the artwork will remain up through November 1st. Artwork will be available for purchase. Admission is free and all ages are welcome.

Oct 13, 2016

It's always a little sad when I have to write this post because it means that NYCC is in the rear view... it's such a huge explosion of an event, we run at super high energy, get very little sleep, get frazzled and fried and hurt and sick... coming down afterwards is always an exercise in perspective and big-picture thought.

NYCC 2016 absolutely rocked for us in so many ways. As you can see above, the show starts early. Way early for us. By the time you buy your tickets, we've already set most of our exclusives in place with artists and are working with them and our staff to plan everything out. In fact, I am planning NYCC 2017 right now. I already know a couple artists I'll be working with. Above is my first run to the Javits in the van. I tend to bring in the Tenacious goods as well as the furniture and also some of the goods being sold by our Collective members.

After that hectic day, we start setting up. This show we had fancy ass lighting by High End Systems, care of Scott Kinnebrew. Also pictured is Brian Ahlbeck who was essential staff for not only us but other booths as well. Brian (Dead Hand Toys) helped me build the Resin Is King Series 3 boxes and was also on hand during setup. Jess Smiley was also on hand to help us set up and run the booth.

It's a big booth, and although smaller than last year, there seemed to be an equally large amount of setup. This year our booth included our own (Tenacious Toys) corner, plus a corner for Bigshot Toyworks and Klim Kozinevich, a corner for Jon Schnepp and Holly Payne (Schneppzone) and a corner for Nugglife and Ian Ziobrowski. Bigshot debuted a number of sweet new collectibles like the Freeny Anatomy Metal Gnome statue, the Southern Friend Gentleman statue, and the Mother Earth art object by AngryBlue. Bigshot also showcased a wide array of past projects, from art toys to 1:6-scale figures to home goods to corporate mascots and much more. Jon Schnepp was selling his The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? DVDs, plus posters, puzzles, prints and we snuck in a few signed Space Ghost POPs into his mix. Nugglife debuted their new streetwear line, including shorts, caps, sweatshirts and more, plus Ian's fantastic custom toys and collectibles.

Klim and the larger Bigshot display case with all past projects in it

Jon Schnepp and the Schneppzone

Nugglife

Klim talking to Norm from Tested.com

Bigshot Toyworks smaller display

Schnepp is always game for a photo op

Once the show got going, we relied heavily on a number of staff to help us run the booth. In no particular order, here are the people that made our show happen for Tenacious Toys: Jackie as always had the booth locked down and took care of me so that I could stay functioning and without her, we'd all crumble and die. Felix aka Cat Atomic and his girlfriend both helped a ton straight through from beginning to end; Cash Cannon helped a ton; Alex Rivera helped run the both and signed for us; UNCLE Studio manned the booth most of the show and kept us all laughing; Scott Kinnebrew helped set up and run the booth, lights, signed, and also helped tear down; Jason Chalker helped run the booth and signed for us; Jon Malmstedt flew in from Japan to be on hand for a Rampage Toys signing; Jacob JAMS signed and pops Matt took photos; Kym and Beatrice both made the leap from customers to staff, jumping into to help run the booth and staying on hand for days even though they didn't have to. Rufus came in to sign in our booth alongside the elusive Renone, who is not pictured below. Renone also brought his wife and son along for the ride, and I made a real attempt to get him on stage at the DTAs but as it turns out, I didn't get to present that category.

Jason Freeny and Kendra came in for a signing and the release of the Brick Babies (proud papa);

Steven Cartoccio and his girlfriend were on hand the whole show to help show off and talk about his Frankpool piece and also helped work the booth;

We got to see Gary Rozanski, KaNO, Frank Kozik, a few friends from Marvel, met contacts from Smooth-On, Juan Muniz, Miss Zukie, Jason Sutton, Anthony Respect, Shane from Art Whino, Lev from Toy Tokyo, Dov from DKE, Tom from Sidekick Labs, Norm from Tested.com, Rachelle from Forbes.com, Itay from Israel, and a whole slew of customers new and old who came by, said hello, bought stuff and in general made it a complete whirlwind of awesome.

Below I'll place all the rest of our pics in no particular order. Our booth style is what I like to refer to as "clusterfuck" so yes, it's messy, busy and looks disorganized, but I assure you, it's all planned out down to the number of products present in the booth on any given day.

Respect to Martian Toys for supporting the scene... they even helped bring our stuff to the van after the show ended

It's says "cake" so relax

Our friend Cash Cannon

Special shout out to my gorgeous wife who, thankfully, was on hand this year to help run the booth. I couldn't have done it without her, she keeps everything in line, including me. She created a fancy book that allowed us to show off and keep inventory on all of our exclusives, kept me smiling when I got tired, and made sure I was well fed and rested.

Gorgeous wife w awesome NEMO dig figure from RIKS3

Happy customer got the Rich Page RIKS3 figure

Smooth-On bought some Resin Is King figures!

Basically, it was wild, fun show. The booth was full of friends, associates and good times. We all did really well and we are currently paying out artists which is part of why I didn't write more in this post - I gotta get back to that important task.

All remaining NYCC exclusives will go up for sale on our NYCC 2016 page here. Some of them are already available! Go check now! More will go up for sale by end of day Friday.

Huge huge thank you to all staff, customers, ReedPOP, the Javits Center and everyone who made this show special. Big shout to Clutter for another wonderful Designer Toy Awards show. See y'all at DCon in November at the Bigshot booth, Five Points in NYC in the spring, and back here at NYCC next October!